SAGW 07

Chapter : 7

The hellish morning rush hour. The first-floor lobby was packed with employees waiting for the elevators.

“Oh? Assistant Manager! Good morning!”

A familiar voice reached my ears. It was Kim Ji-eun, the youngest member of the marketing team.

“Ah, good morning, Ji-eun.”

I greeted her with a forced smile. Thanks to sprinting the last 500 meters at full speed, beads of sweat had formed on my forehead.

“Oh my, look at all that sweat. Are you really hot?”

“Uh, yeah. The weather is a little… humid today. Haha.”

That was a lie. Far from being humid, Seoul’s humidity today was a comfortable 30%.

Ding―.

The regular elevator doors opened with a chime. People poured inside like a rising tide, and I was swept along with the crowd and pushed into a corner. It was packed so tightly that there wasn’t even enough room to breathe, like a can of sardines.

“Excuse me.”

Just as the doors were about to close, a man dressed in a black suit stepped inside.

“Oh my God. It’s the Executive Director.”

The atmosphere inside the elevator instantly froze. Without exception, the employees held their breaths and pressed themselves against the walls.

I was screwed.

Of all places, he had to show up in this cramped space. I tried to lower my head as much as possible and hide behind the person in front of me. But he found me as if he had supernatural powers.

“Assistant Manager Lee Da-eun.”

“Yes, yes, sir.”

“Is everything going well with the marketing team meeting scheduled for ten this morning?”

With an expressionless face, he asked a perfectly professional question.

“Yes. I’ve finished reviewing the materials.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it. Check once more to make sure there are no typos.”

He nodded and turned his gaze straight ahead again. He was putting on the perfect boss act.

The distance between us was so different from the fact that he had been the one tying my necktie that morning that, for some reason, a strange sense of disappointment passed through me. But at the same time, I was reminded of the reality that this was our true relationship, and a bitter feeling settled in my heart.

When the indicator showed the fifteenth floor, people rushed out, and even more people pushed their way inside through the opening. A large male employee standing in front of me was suddenly shoved backward.

“Whoa!”

I was on the verge of being crushed. Just as I was about to be flattened with nowhere to escape, a dark shadow fell over my head.

Kang Seo-jun braced both arms against the elevator walls, creating a solid barricade.

“…….”

He didn’t even look at me. With a slight frown between his brows, he used his back to block the people pushing in. His expression suggested that he absolutely hated having his body touch other people, but thanks to him, a miraculous one-foot-wide safe zone appeared right in front of me.

A faint sandalwood scent came from the firm chest just inches from my face. I could see the veins standing out on his forearms as he held his arms against the walls.

…Is he protecting me?

No.

He probably just made some space because he himself was uncomfortable.

Even as I told myself that, I couldn’t stop my heart from sinking. In this cramped, suffocating space, the fact that he was the only place where I could breathe somehow made me feel strangely relieved.

Soon, the weekly meeting of Marketing Team 1 began.

The atmosphere was like walking on thin ice. Kang Seo-jun was famous for transforming into the Grim Reaper whenever he was in a meeting.

“Team Leader Park. Your data analysis is exactly the same as the one from two years ago. Did you just copy and paste it?”

“Ah, well…”

“Redo it by today.”

Team Leader Park backed down with a whimper. Next, it was my turn. I flipped through the presentation materials with trembling hands.

“This is the proposal for the launch of the new brand…”

The presentation went smoothly. But on the final page, I made a mistake. A typo.

It was supposed to say, “Budget: 50,000,000 won,” but one of the zeros was missing.

“Assistant Manager Lee Da-eun.”

Seo-jun’s voice pierced sharply into my ears.

“Are you planning to hold the launch party with five million won? Even a neighborhood party would cost more than that.”

“I-I’m sorry! It’s a typo.”

“Numbers are basic. How am I supposed to trust and approve a proposal that doesn’t even have the basics right?”

His criticism was merciless, and my team members looked at me sympathetically. Their expressions seemed to say, The Executive Director really has no blood or tears in him.

Honestly, I felt like I might cry.

This morning, he had said he liked my necktie, and now that we were at work, it felt like he had decided to eat me alive. As expected, he was a cold-blooded man who drew a razor-sharp line between public and private matters.

“I’ll correct it.”

I lowered my head and sat down. My face was burning so badly that I could barely stand it. If there had been a mouse hole, I would have crawled into it.

While I cooled my heated cheeks with my hand, a company messenger notification popped up at the bottom of my laptop screen.

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: Lift your head.]

……?

I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I had read it wrong.

He was presiding over the meeting and staring at the screen in front of him. With one hand, he casually tapped away at his keyboard.

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: You look like you’re about to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it just because you got scolded. If you want to earn your keep, get your mental strength together first.]

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: The proposal itself wasn’t bad. Just fix the typo and submit it again.]

And then, one final line.

[Executive Director Kang Seo-jun: I sent that because I want you to think about what we’re having for dinner tonight. Don’t misunderstand.]

I stared blankly at the monitor before cautiously lifting my head.

He was still looking at the presenter’s materials with a serious expression, as if I wasn’t even there.

But his indifferent profile no longer looked as cold as it had before.

He gives me the medicine after giving me the poison…

I bit my lip tightly to suppress a smile.

Rather than a long, heartfelt word of comfort, those few dry lines of text felt much more like Kang Seo-jun—and somehow touched my heart even more.

The moment I left the conference room, I heard a voice behind me.

“Assistant Manager, are you okay?”

It was Choi Do-jin, the new employee on the same team as me.

He looked at me with puppy-like eyes full of concern. His gentle gaze was so disarming that just looking at him made some of the frost around my heart melt.

“Wow… Wasn’t the Executive Director being way too harsh? I got angry just listening to him.”

Do-jin glanced around before placing a chocolate bar in my hand.

“Get some sugar in you. Being all downcast doesn’t suit you, Assistant Manager.”

“Thanks, Do-jin.”

I gave him a bitter smile and accepted the chocolate.

Perhaps he had noticed me receiving the chocolate, because at the end of the hallway, Kang Seo-jun’s cold gaze briefly swept over us.

Without saying a word, he disappeared into the elevator with Secretary Kim.

…Am I imagining it? It looked like he was glaring at us.

After work, we met at a large supermarket near our home. For maximum security, we traveled separately and met in the supermarket parking lot.

“You said we should use only the finest ingredients. If I’m making beef radish soup tomorrow morning, we need Korean beef brisket.”

“Buy whatever you want. I don’t care if you buy the entire supermarket.”

Kang Seo-jun answered indifferently as he took the cart from me and began pushing it himself.

But there was something unusual about his outfit.

The black suit and black coat were fine.

But he was also wearing a pair of pitch-black sunglasses that covered half his face.

“Executive Director…”

“What?”

“We’re indoors, you know? And it’s nighttime.”

“It would be troublesome if we ran into any employees. Maintaining security is vital.”

“That makes you stand out even more! You look like someone who thinks he’s a celebrity.”

People passing by kept sneaking glances at us. I could hear whispers like, Who’s that? and Is he a celebrity?

He was actually drawing even more attention to himself.

“Take them off, please. I’m too embarrassed to walk around with you like this.”

“No. Protecting my identity takes priority.”

He stubbornly adjusted his sunglasses before heading straight toward the meat section.

“Ma’am, what’s the most expensive meat you have here?”

The woman behind the counter looked bewildered at the sight of a chaebol third-generation heir choosing Korean beef while wearing sunglasses.

“Oh my, young man. Don’t your eyes hurt? Can you even see the color of the meat?”

“…I can see perfectly. This is top-grade 1++, right?”

Watching him seriously inspect the marbling of the meat, I finally burst out laughing.

“Pfft—hahahaha!”

“Please don’t laugh. I’m being serious.”

“No, it’s just so funny. You’re always acting so sophisticated, and then here you are at a supermarket like this.”

He paused at the sound of my laughter. I could feel his gaze fixed on me from behind his sunglasses.

“…You look a little better when you laugh.”

“What?”

“You looked like you were about to cry during the meeting.”

He spoke casually, almost carelessly, before tossing a package of Korean beef into the cart.

“I was being strict because we have to keep work and private matters separate. But you’re doing more than enough to earn your keep, so don’t worry.”

Ah, that messenger.

He hadn’t simply been teasing me.

He had been looking out for me in his own way, telling me not to let it get to me.

Something warm and fuzzy stirred in one corner of my heart.

The more I get to know this man, the more unexpected sides he has.

“Thanks for comforting me.”

I murmured it in a small voice, but he pretended not to hear and pushed the cart toward the vegetable section.

“We need radish too if we want the soup to be nice and refreshing.”

He still looked ridiculous wearing sunglasses, but somehow, the sight of his broad back as he walked ahead of me looked strangely dependable.

I hurried after him and matched his pace.

We weren’t holding hands or linking arms, but walking side by side with the cart between us wasn’t so bad.

For a supermarket date between a fake married couple, it was actually pretty decent.

But the moment we reached the checkout counter, that feeling disappeared in an instant.

“I’ll ring you up. That’ll be 485,000 won.”

Gasp.

Just a few packs of Korean beef, and our grocery bill was nearly 500,000 won.

My entire monthly food budget had just disappeared in a single grocery trip.

Unlike me, who couldn’t take my eyes off the number displayed on the checkout screen, Seo-jun didn’t even blink.

He simply handed over his black card.

“One payment.”

Seeing his effortlessly cool profile, I realized it all over again.

Oh, right.

My husband is a chaebol.

A life worth 300 million won.

Maybe being well-fed and living comfortably wasn’t so bad after all.